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Since meeting in 2006, Rod Picott and Amanda Shires have been steadily touring across the U.S. and Europe, and the significant chemistry they’ve developed is evident on their debut disc Sew Your Heart With Wires. Swathed in simple acoustic arrangements featuring guitar, ukulele, fiddle and a little thumb piano, Picott’s raspy baritone is like the crunchy baguette crust around the soft, fluffy interior of Shire’s angelic soprano. It’s a seductive and fetching vocal contrast that recalls the John Prine/Iris Dement duets on Prine’s In Spite of Ourselves. The duo played all the instruments and co-wrote all the songs: Highlights include the cautionary tale “Drive That Devil Out,” the jaunty murder ballad “Little Darlin’ ” and the melancholy “Salida,” which features one of the album’s best lyrical moments, “A mistake to tread the ground / Where a memory hangs around.”
Sun., June 21, 6:30 p.m., 2009
Sun., June 21, 6:30 p.m., 2009
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